Kittrie addressed public international law, trade law and humanitarian implications of S. 970, which would significantly increase U.S. sanctions designed to both directly impact Iranian policy and persuade third countries to lessen their ties to Iran in light of Iran’s nuclear program and support for terrorism. A video of the testimony is available on the Committee website.

Professor Kittrie has written several law review articles on the use and misuse of sanctions as a tool for deterring and containing illicit international behavior. In his work on this topic, Kittrie, who teaches both criminal law and international law, often applies criminal law theory and principles to the international arena.

Kittrie, a permanent member of the law faculty at Arizona State University, served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State before entering academia in 2004. In that capacity, Kittrie worked on legal issues relating to sanctions, nuclear nonproliferation, and international economic policy. Kittrie also served as director of the Department’s Office of International Anti-Crime Programs.

Kittrie has been very actively engaged with nuclear nonproliferation legal issues in recent months. In March 2008, Professor Kittrie traveled to Vienna, Austria to address a seminar on legal aspects of various proposals to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. The seminar, organized by the Stockholm International Peace Research Center and the Carnegie Moscow Center, included participation by officials from the United States, Russia, Iran, Sweden, Egypt, Syria, China and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In February 2008, Kittrie wrote the legal chapter for a report produced by the National Academies of Science, in coordination with the Russian Academy of Sciences, entitled The Future of the Nuclear Security Environment in 2015. Professor Kittrie's chapter analyzes several critical legal issues that must be successfully managed if future U.S.-Russian nuclear security cooperation is to be maximized.